‘Journey 2′ Director to Write & Direct DC Comics’ ‘Lobo’ Movie

A big screen vehicle for DC Comics’ (in)famous alien bounty hunter Lobowas close to becoming a reality for the majority of 2009. However, thanks to would-be director Guy Ritchie’s decision to instead move ahead with a Sherlock Holmes sequel – and the under-performance of such DC comic adaptations as The Losers and Jonah Hex – Warner Bros. elected to put the project (essentially) on indefinite hold.

The studio is (at last) extracting its delayed Lobo movie from the depths of development limbo. However, the project now has a very different filmmaker in place to oversee its production.

Deadline is reporting that Journey 2: The Mysterious Island helmer Brad Peyton has been tapped to both rewrite and direct the Lobo movie adaptation. Peyton will presumably be working from the script draft penned by Don Payne (who’s now co-writing Thor 2); similarly, previously-attached producers Akiva Goldsman and Joel Silver remain set to back the comic book flick.

Payne’s Lobo script draft reportedly followed the titular interstellar bounty hunter/thug as he tracked four dangerous alien fugitives to Earth, eventually gaining assistance in the form of a young woman. The project was then supposedly being fashioned as a PG-13 affair – a controversial idea, given the often darkly violent and “adult” nature of the Lobo property – and that probably is still going to be the case, now that Peyton is calling the shots.

To clarify our meaning: the family-friendly Journey 2 and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore are Peyton’s only feature-length directing efforts to date. That’s not to say Peyton cannot break out of his shell and try his hand at making a hard-edged comic book flick – like what potential Captain America 2 directors Anthony and Joseph Russo want to do – but… well, judging solely by Peyton’s resume, that’s not what Warner Bros. expects him to deliver.

Of course, Peyton has (most likely) just barely begun to shape his vision for the Lobo movie; so, even he probably doesn’t have anywhere near a set plan for how he’ll be bringing the character to life on the big screen. It’s best we all keep that in mind before just assuming that we’re going to get a “softer” – and thus, less compelling – treatment of the “Main Man” – which has happened with other dark comic book characters before (Ghost Rider, looking at you).

Peyton is also attached to direct Journey 3 sometime in the near future, so it may be a while before he starts making some serious progress on the Lobo movie. In the meantime, feel free to share your early thoughts about the project – including, who should headline the flick (self-proclaimed candidate Jeffrey Dean Morgan?) – in the comments section.